Kill the Messenger
by pusa.is.me
Summary: Years of training taught her that sacrificing one's life for the village was noble, and something that a ninja should be prepared to do. Yet all the while Tsunade was speaking, all Tenten could think of was that she and Lee wouldn't make it back to Konoha alive.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Kill the Messenger**

**Characters: Tenten, Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee**

**Genre: Angst/Friendship**

**Summary: Years of training taught her that sacrificing one's life for the village is noble, and something that a ninja should be prepared to do. Yet all the while Tsunade was speaking, all she could think of was: **_**she and Lee won't make it back to Konoha alive**_**.**

**Warnings: Tenses may/might vary. No, it's not intentional, but it's my weak point. Apologies shall/should be in order.**

* * *

**Kill the Messenger**

_/Oh my God, this hurts like hell_  
_I had that dream again where_  
_I was lost for good in outer space/_  
**_  
_**

"No."

Four pairs of eyes stared—two in surprise, one in understanding, and the last one in mild consternation. Light gray orbs stared back defiantly.

A sigh escaped the Hokage's lips, and she hid her brown eyes beneath pale yellow locks. Maito Gai chose to remain quiet, and even Rock Lee had no words to dissipate the foul mood in the room.

It was the weapons specialist who broke the silence.

"What do you mean 'no'?" she hissed, despite herself.

"No."

Her frown deepened. "This doesn't even concern you."

Gray orbs locked with brown, and for one painful minute, everything in the world froze in midstep. A few seconds running the second minute, Tenten realized the futility of their staring exercise, and tore her eyes away, turning to the Godaime instead.

"Tsunade-sama, please forgive his insolence," Tenten said, just the tiniest bit of exasperation in her voice. "And please consider what I just said."

And she turned and locked eyes with Lee, but saw that the thick-browed boy was giving her a stare of worry himself.

Tenten sighed. "Not you too." _I'm doing this for you, damn it, _was what she really wanted to say.

Lee opened his mouth to answer, but realized that for once in his life, he couldn't find the right words to say. He turned to his mentor, silently asking for help, but Gai, in a moment of out-of-character-ness, merely shook his head and smiled quietly, sadly.

Tenten sighed again. She understood how her teammates were feeling—she really did—and given a choice, she wouldn't want to accept the assignment either. But it was a necessity, and only a few kunoichi could do the job—and even fewer were dispensable, like her.

When Tsunade explained the gravity of the S-rank mission half an hour past, Tenten's insides curled up, and she resisted the urge to run out of the Hokage tower and lock herself in her room. She wanted to scream _It's unfair!, _but grace and dignity, mingled with her sense of honor and loyalty to their cause, forced her to swallow her objections, hold back her tears, and stand still as the Hokage finished her explanation. When Tsunade finished, Tenten found herself nodding, answering a silent "I understand," all the while curling her fists in maimed protest.

It should be an honor—dying for a cause. Years of training in the Academy taught her that sacrificing one's life for the village is noble, and something that a ninja should be prepared to do. Yet all the while Tsunade was speaking, all she could think of was: _she and Lee won't make it back to Konoha alive._

Tenten guessed that she wouldn't be so aggravated had her life been the only thing that would be on the line. It was one thing to sacrifice her life for the village, but dragging Lee along with her was a different matter altogether. Tenten saw him as a brother, a friend, a comrade, and she trusted him with her life, as much as she trusted Neji and their former sensei-turned-team-leader. She didn't want Lee to waste his life away; he wasn't_insignificant, _not like her. Konoha would mourn his loss, but they would barely remember her once she died.

She wondered vaguely if there was a chance that she could take the mission alone, _better me than him, _and when she voiced out her suggestion, the Hyuuga prodigy sounded off his objection with a monosyllabic word.

"No."

"Neji," Tenten hissed again, a warning tone in her voice.

Neji refused to meet her glare, and addressed Tsunade instead. "I have another proposal," he said, in that matter-of-fact tone of his. "Send me along with them."

Lee made a move of protest, but Tenten was quicker. "Are you out of your mind?" And when Neji finally turned to look at her, all fury let loose. "I am trying to get Lee out of the mission, and you volunteer yourself? Do you want to die so badly?"

There. It was out in the open. What Tsunade had avoided saying, what everyone understood from the beginning—Tenten all but screamed at her teammate. Tsunade kept her eyes closed, and even Gai followed suit.

"Do you?"

Two words, and Tenten mellowed down a bit. "No," she answered quietly. "But a kunoichi has her responsibilities, and I'm not deluded enough to think that I am exempted from that."

It was Neji who broke his gaze this time. He turned back to the Hokage, and continued, "Sending me along with them raises the success rate of the mission." _And the probability that they both make it back alive _was the unspoken explanation.

"You're a member of the Hyuuga Branch Family," Tenten interjected. "You don't have to waste your time for a mission that I can handle by myself." _I don't want you to die for my sake _was what she really wanted to say.

"A shinobi has responsibilities, and I'm not deluded enough to think that I am exempted from that."

"Enough." Tsunade's voice sliced through the tension, even before Tenten could bite back a reply. All eyes turned to stare, and the Godaime stood up from her chair, her mind made up.

"Tenten," Tsunade started, but Tenten knew her mission already.

"Reconnaissance and assassination," she answered, nodding her head gravely. "I understand. I'll send the scroll via raven the second I get it, and proceed with the execution of the targets. You can count on me, Godaime."

The Hokage nodded, and Tenten felt some of the burden lift from her heart. She didn't want to die alone, but she didn't want her teammates to die either. She realized she was prepared—that her objection only really started when Tsunade mentioned that Lee will go with her. But now that she was sure that both her teammates, _friends, _were out of harm's way, she felt that she was ready—ready to die alone, ready to commit to a suicide mission for the sake of a noble cause. She could do it, prove to everyone that she was a good ninja, a great kunoichi, and that she was capable of protecting those she cared for, those people who…

"Lee and Neji will go with you."

_Wait. What._

Tenten blinked, unsure of what she'd heard. That was not part of the plan. The mission was to get intel and kill, and be ready to die if things do not pan out. The mission did not involve backups; she wasn't expecting, _hoping _(or maybe she was, just a little bit)_, _to get out of it alive.

"Godaime-sama…"

"Yes."

Tenten glared at the Hyuuga prodigy. _Damn you, _she wanted to yell at him. Instead, "Tsunade-sama, please, I can do it by myself, I don't need any…"

"Yes!" It was Lee this time.

_Damn you both. _"Godaime-sama, please…"

"Yosh," Gai chirped in, but something caught in his throat.

A pause.

"Neji, Lee, I entrust the safety of Tenten to you both." No fancy words, no catchphrases about flowers and youth, just a simple, direct-to-the-point instruction. _Return safely, all of you._

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" _I will protect them with my life._

"Hn." _I won't let you die alone._

"This is not happening." _Damn you all._

_/Tell me, doctor, how to shake_  
_A waking nightmare that is only_  
_Worse when I am sleeping/_

**End of Part One**

* * *

**Update as of 08/04/11:**

**Eheh...I revised the storyline a bit, because after rereading it in an attempt to write the third chapter, I realized that I won't be able to finish the whole story in three parts. That, and the idea of Tenten seducing a target did not sit as well with me as it did when I started this story months ago.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: Kill the Messenger**

**Characters: Tenten, Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee**

**Genre: Angst/Friendship**

**Summary: Years of training taught her that sacrificing one's life for the village is noble, and something that a ninja should be prepared to do. Yet all the while Tsunade was speaking, all she could think of was: ****_she and Lee won't make it back to Konoha alive_****.**

**Warnings: Tenses may/might vary. No, it's not intentional, but it's my weak point. Apologies shall/should be in order.**

* * *

**Kill the Messenger**

_|Kill the messenger__  
I swear it's not me  
It's just someone I used to know|_

_Weak._

That was all Tenten could think of as she packed her things for the mission. She was so friggin' _weak._

In the end, Neji had won, and all three of them were assigned to the S-rank mission, all of them probably heading toward their deaths. She shouldn't have been surprised, really; it was a known fact that she almost _never _wins against the Hyuuga genius. Ever since their genin days, Neji had almost always beaten her during sparring sessions, even when she tried so hard to land a hit on him _every single time_. As years went by her skills and talents had improved, but so did Neji's. It was of little comfort for her to know that she could actually hit him now, because more than half of the time, she still had her ass served up in a platter by her stoic teammate.

And now _this._

It wasn't that she didn't trust them; they were _her _boys anyway. And if she was allowed to be completely honest with herself, she was actually a bit relieved that she didn't have to do the mission alone, that she would do it with people she had complete faith in. Tenten knew that Neji and Lee would protect her to the best of their abilities, sacrificing their lives, laying it on the line, just to make sure she comes home safe.

And that's where her problem lies.

She had wanted to volunteer Lee out of the mission. And now even Neji was part of it. What part of "Suicide Mission" did they not understand? She wasn't expected to come home after this; she was just expected _not _to fail. So long as she succeeded in killing her targets and getting the information the village needed, it mattered little if she came back in one piece.

Okay, so that was not completely true. Tenten knew that the Godaime would want her to come back alive if she could. That was obviously the reason why she agreed to Neji's proposal. But still, Tenten wasn't deluded enough to think that her life was more important than her task. She was a kunoichi, a _tool. _Tools were disposable, replaceable, so long as they managed to perform the task assigned to them.

Tenten sighed as she sat down her bed. She was over-thinking things. She promised herself that she would not complicate things by worrying, but she worried about them anyway. All that bravery she showed in the Hokage tower during the mission briefing, all of it had been a front, an impulsive action on her part in a futile attempt to show her teammates that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. But now that she was alone, the adrenaline wearing off, she found herself starting to shake in fear.

_I am going to die._

The realization hit her like a bucket of ice cold water, and Tenten bit her lower lip to keep herself from screaming. It was unfair. She was still so young, just barely out of her teens, with a full life ahead of her. She wanted to be an ANBU, to serve their village until she is too old to be sent on missions, and then retire in a ripe, old age, full of accomplishments, her life brimming with things she could be proud of. Instead, she was going to be sent to her death, all because a group of rouge ninjas held vital information that could cause the annihilation of a small village under the protection of their own.

_What's worse, Neji and Lee are going to die with me._

And she couldn't do a damned thing about it. She had signed the mission papers, listened as Tsunade explained the mission in detail, nodded her head when the Hokage dismissed them and instructed them to rest up and prepare for their departure the following day. She wasn't able to get another word out, because Neji was Neji and he took over things like he was their goddamned leader, even when he had become a jounin only a year earlier than she had.

_I am so friggin' weak._

_|And get to church 'cause you're a good girl__  
And he never told you that|_

She stood in front of the memorial tablet that carried the names of all the dead shinobis and kunoichis in the past, valiant heroes that sacrificed their lives to make the world they live in a better place. She wondered if her name would be included in the roster soon, if all three of their names were to be added in a manner of months, weeks, days. She touched a random kunoichi's name, _Hitomi Kawada, _and she wondered what the deceased woman was like, whether she had a family, a lover, she had left behind.

"You're not going to die."

Tenten froze. It still irked her that there were times she could not detect his presence, even after all those years. It also annoyed her to no end that no matter how hard she tried, she could never really keep any secret from the Hyuuga. Maybe she really was weak after all.

"I don't need you to reassure me, Neji. I am well prepared for whatever outcome this mission may have."

She answered him coldly, wordlessly telling him that she was angry with him for his stupid meddling.

She heard footsteps, and a few seconds later, he was standing beside her, staring at the memorial tablet with his usual expressionless face.

"None of us are going to die," he continued, as if not hearing her speak. "I won't allow it."

She couldn't resist rolling her eyes. "You're not _God, _Neji," she replied, glaring at him. "It doesn't matter what you say, or how you feel about it. The fact of the matter is, this was supposed to be a solo mission, and you and Lee shouldn't even part of it." She emphasized on the next words. "_I. Don't. Need. You. To. Babysit. Me._"

She watched as Neji turned to her, gray orbs drilling into her soul. How she wanted to poke them out of their sockets. Instead, she met his silent challenge, glaring at him with the most intense glare she could muster. Finally, he looked away, and instead of feeling victorious, Tenten felt something heavy cling to her heart.

"Why do you want to die alone so badly?"

His words struck her more painfully than any physical hit could have, and she found herself clenching and unclenching her fists in an attempt to remain calm. "I wasn't…"

Neji turned to look at her again, and Tenten found herself at a loss of words. "For someone who is always looking for a community of her own, why would you want to be alone?"

Oh no he didn't. It was an unspoken taboo to mention Tenten's heritage, or lack thereof. Neji, of all people, should know how sensitive that subject was, how touchy she gets when someone mentions her lack of a family, of a clan. It wasn't her fault she was a goddamned orphan! She was trying her best to excel in everything she did, to be part of something bigger than herself, just so she wouldn't leave this world completely forgotten. Sure, she could never be Haruno Sakura or Hyuuga Hinata, but she didn't want to be a complete nobody!

"How dare you."

Before she could lash out at him, Neji turned to look at the memorial tablet once again. "You were never alone, Tenten," he said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You've always had us from the start."

And she froze a second time, but not because of anything related to the decapitation of a certain Hyuuga branch member. Tenten suddenly felt a stinging pain in her chest, a burning in her eyes, an unwanted warm tingling in her toes. Because Neji, _the _Neji Hyuuga, had just indirectly told her that she mattered to him, to them.

Suddenly, all her initial fears dissipated into thin air, and, glancing at the tablet in front of her, she felt a tiny sliver of hope creeping up her spine, that maybe, just maybe, Neji was right, that none of them was going to die, that in the end, everything would be okay, and she and her boys would make it safely back home.

_|And all I need from you__  
Could be the thing that  
Leaves us both up here forever|_

**End of Part Two**


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: Kill the Messenger**

**Characters: Tenten, Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee**

**Genre: Angst/Friendship**

**Summary: Years of training taught her that sacrificing one's life for the village is noble, and something that a ninja should be prepared to do. Yet all the while Tsunade was speaking, all she could think of was:**_**she and Lee won't make it back to Konoha alive**_**.**

**Warnings: Unbeta-ed, and written thirty minutes before midnight. Go figure.**

* * *

**Kill the Messenger**

_\I'm gonna send a little rain your way__  
__I'm gonna send a little rain...\_

Tenten woke up to a bleak, rainy morning, and the first thing she thought of was how Fate has a lousy sense of humor, already crying for them when they weren't even dead yet.

_None of us are going to die. I won't allow it._

And suddenly, she was smiling to herself, because it seemed ironic that Neji, of all people, was going to try to defy Fate, when it was he who was so obsessed with it back in their genin days.

"Just you wait and see," she whispered as she looked out her window, as if taunting Fate (something she would regret doing later, _much later_), "Mock us all you want, but it's us who'll be laughing in the end."

What Tenten failed to realize that very moment was that not all laughter comes from expressions of joy.

_\It's not so easy, caving in__  
__I walked by your apartment twice today__  
__While you were gone at work\_

Lee was waiting outside her door the minute Tenten stepped out of her apartment. When he saw her, he flashed his friend a blinding smile, and Tenten wasn't sure if she was going to roll her eyes or flat-out whack Lee on the head.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, falling in step with him as the Konoha Green Beast started off. "I thought we're supposed to meet up at the gate?"

The taijutsu expert was a bundle of energy, as always. "I woke up earlier than usual to do my last morning lap around the village before we leave," he answered brightly, but Tenten knew her teammate too well to know the unspoken line after that: _In case I don't make it back to do it again._

The weapons expert was torn between grabbing Lee and wrapping him in a tight, reassuring hug, and berating him for being pessimistic, when it was supposed to be his job to lift up the rest of their spirits. Because if Lee, bright and impossibly optimistic that he was, has doubts about the success of their mission, how could anyone expect her or Neji to believe that they will survive?

But instead of doing either, she asked him the one question she knew she was supposed to ask. "Did you see Sakura?"

Lee shook his head vigorously, but he refused to meet Tenten's eyes. "I didn't want to wake her up so early just to say goodbye," he explained, voice cheery as usual, but some of the light in his eyes had gone out. "She needs her youthful energy when she works her shift in the hospital later!"

Tenten frowned. "But you passed by her house just the same?"

"It's along the way of my usual route when I do my youthful runs," Lee admitted, and Tenten had the feeling that he was purposely avoiding answering the question directly.

"Lee," she said firmly, stopping all of a sudden, and grabbing Lee's arm to stop him as well. "She's probably not even in her house anymore. I heard her shift today is early and…"

A vigorous shake of the head was the answer she got. "Sakura-san has a lot of things she needs to worry about," the taijutsu expert answered, smiling his big smile that only he (and Gai, of course) could pull off. "I'll just greet her when we get back from the mission."

And as Lee marched off away, almost mechanically, but with a firm determination in his big, round eyes, Tenten wondered not for the first time where he gets his fire, his drive to continue on, to keep on living, when sometimes it was so much easier to just…give up.

_\And all the colors got so down__  
__It's not as cold out here\__  
_

Neji was already at the gates by the time Tenten and Lee arrived.

And he was not the only one waiting for them.

"Yosh!" boomed the loud, cheerful voice of the one and only Maito Gai, de facto leader of Team Gai, years after all his former pupils have achieved jounin level and were technically not under his command anymore. "Looks like you all made it in time! No need for one hundred fifty push-ups as punishment after all!"

"Gai?" Tenten blurted out, switching her gaze between the grinning man in green spandex and the Byakugan user who looked a little peeved, as if accusing her of not getting there early enough to save him from suffering Gai's company _alone. _"What are you doing here?"

"Oh!" Lee boomed back, "Are you going to the mission with us, sensei?"

A fraction of Gai's grin disappeared, but he immediately doubled it the next second. "I'm afraid not, Lee," he answered, "As much as I want to be with you as you grow in your springtime of youth, I can't, because the Hokage has assigned me to a solo mission that only I can perform."

Tenten did not even want to _know _what kind of mission that was. She has heard enough horror stories about solo missions that Maito Gai had been involved in.

Lee looked about to cry, Neji looked like he wanted to jyukken something hard, Gai looked like he was about to tell the story of how one of his solo missions had gone. And so Tenten, who was, and probably always will be, the sanest person in the group, asked, "Then what are you doing here?"

Gai flashed all three with his trademark thumbs-up. "I want to send you off, that's all!"

"Send…us…off?"

"Yosh!" the older ninja beamed. "It is unfortunate that I cannot go with you, but I want to hear all the details of how you exercised your springtime of youth, over dinner, after our missions." A pause, in which Gai took the time to extend his right arm, palm down, that confident grin never leaving his face. "And, as tradition…Team Gai…"

Lee immediately took the cue, placing his hand over Gai's, the look of determination on his face.

Both of them turned to Tenten, and the kunoichi took a step back, not wanting to repeat the humiliation that she had to endure back when they had to rescue Gaara from the Akatsuki. "You've got to be kidding me," she whispered, ready to whack both Gai and Lee on the head, when the most unexpected thing happened.

Neji placed his right hand on top of Lee's.

Even Lee looked surprised at the sudden gesture, and Tenten stared, dumbfounded, at the Hyuuga genius. "You can't be serious."

Neji glared. "The quicker we agree to do this, the less time we have to endure their silliness."

"Traitor," Tenten mouthed, but placed her hand on top of Neji's. Gai covered her hand with his other palm, and smiled brightly at his three former pupils.

"I have infinite faith in your abilities," Gai said, surprising them all (even Lee looked astonished), not because of what he said (they all trusted each other, that's for sure), but because he managed to be serious for once, without shouting peals of statements about youth and more youth. "You were chosen for this mission because the Hokage knows that you're the best team suited for the job." And, his smile turning mellow, but still filled with the same overflowing amount of love, "I'll be seeing you when you come back, Team Gai."

And Lee replied with a wholehearted "Yosh!", and even Neji smiled, and Tenten found her eyes brimming with unshed tears, because, really, it was beginning to feel like _not _a suicide mission anymore.

"Yes," she whispered, but loud enough so that all of them could hear. "We'll definitely come back. All of us."

And when she met Neji's eyes, his gray orbs held the same conviction, and she couldn't help smiling back at him.

_None of us are going to die. I won't allow it._

She wasn't going to allow it either. Tenten was going to make sure her boys make it home alive.

_\But come quick, I am losing feeling\_

**End of Part Three**

* * *

******No, you are not hallucinating. I really am back (no, not from the grave, you silly person you).**

**Well, not exactly what I had hoped for, but I figured this will be the most lighthearted chapter in the series, so, meh. **

**My original plan was to keep this into three parts, but after mulling it over for several months (five months, to be exact), I realized I wanted to expand it a little more. So maybe two more chapters after this, give or take. **

**I also changed the premise of the mission (as stated in my updated A/N on the first chapter) because the idea of Tenten doing a seduction mission is not sitting well with me anymore. Let's leave the seduction missions to the Ino's of the world. Tenten needs to show off her skill her own way.**

**I do hope I still have readers for this. If you're a little disappointed with this new chapter (I think I am too, just a little bit), I promise to make it up to you the next. This is more like a transition chapter, or a filler, something like that.**

**I should really stop talking now. Reviews?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: Kill the Messenger**

**Characters: Tenten, Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee**

**Genre: Angst/Friendship**

**Summary: Years of training taught her that sacrificing one's life for the village is noble, and something that a ninja should be prepared to do. Yet all the while Tsunade was speaking, all she could think of was, she and Lee won't make it back to Konoha alive.**

**A/N: Ah. I'm . . . here?**

* * *

**Kill the Messenger**

_|Kill the messenger  
I swear it's not me  
It's just someone I used to know|_

They already killed two shinobis, and they haven't even officially stepped into the village yet.

It was a swift kill; the two were lookouts, assigned to watch the surroundings for any unusual activity. Neji snapped the neck of the first shinobi on the spot; Lee had to run after the second one before he could signal the alarm. Tenten was left guarding the perimeter, in case unexpected company arrived.

It irked her to think that it was supposed to be her mission to begin with (well, hers and Lee's), and yet, she has done nothing mission-like since they left Konoha five days past. Neji went ahead and acted as the de facto leader, and Lee was his usual bundle of enthusiasm, doing extra tasks that left Tenten with nothing to do. The two didn't even let her face off an opponent on her own; Neji insisted that it would be more efficient if he and Lee attacked, even when Tenten reasoned that it was best if she just threw kunais at the two messengers, which she obviously could do better than either of them could ever dream of doing.

It was almost as if her teammates refused to let her kill during the mission. Which was stupid, she thinks, because it was supposed to be reconnaissance and assassination anyway. She will have to kill sooner or later, so why delay the inevitable? It wasn't as if it would be her first kill; sure, the boys in her team decimated their opponents quicker than she could shower half a dozen shurikens on them, but she had her fair share of blood and grime, and not once did she delude herself into thinking that she was exempted from the task.

Sometimes, she wished they'd let her be in the frontlines too. She wanted to prove to them that she was as capable as them when it came to short-range battles, that was not limited to fighting long range and that she was not a mere backup, _she__'__s __the __sole __kunoichi __in __Team __Gai, __damn __it!, _and that she was no longer the weak little nobody that joined their team years ago.

She wanted to yell at them, _When __will __you __two __stop __trying __to __protect __me?_

But that was something that she should not bring up during this particular mission. Especially not in this kind of mission.

"Tenten." As if on cue, Neji's voice snapped her out of her musings. The kunoichi in mention blinked; both Hyuuga and Lee were standing in front of her, waiting. "Ready?"

And something about seeing them together, standing there side by side—Neji in his white Hyuuga clothes and pale, cold eyes, and Lee in his disturbing green spandex and bowl cut hair, the two boys she loved like nobody else, who she respected and envied at the same time, who will forever leave a mark in her life—tugged the strings in her heart, that for a fraction of a second she wanted to sob and cry and beg them to abort the mission and go back to Konoha, shamed, but still alive, still together.

But it was something she could never ask of them. Hell, it was something she would never, could never, do.

And suddenly, Tenten did something out of the ordinary.

She stepped forward, opened her arms, and threw them around the two, effectively enveloping them in a tight hug. She immediately felt both of them freeze up, and it took Neji much, much longer than Lee to recover from the contact. By the time Neji returned the embrace, placing his right arm awkwardly at the small of Tenten's back, Lee was already crying tears of joy at the absolute youthfulness of his friend. Tenten chuckled and buried her face in between the shoulders of the two shinobis, willing time to stay frozen a little longer. Finally, she took a huge intake of breath, exhaled, whispered a very soft "Don't die, okay?" and let her two friends go. Flashing them with her most charming smile, she squeezed both their shoulders and nodded.

"Ready."

_|And get to church  
'Cause you're a good girl  
And I never told you that|_

Getting the scrolls was easy. They were hidden in a safe in a temple in the middle of the village, and since it was nighttime, Team Gai managed to slip past the guards and steal the materials without exerting too much effort.

"Should we open it?" the kunoichi asked as she retrieved the scrolls from the safe. Lee looked eager enough, but Neji was frowning his usual frown. "It's not in our mission detail," he said.

Tenten shrugged. "It's not, but it didn't say we shouldn't open it either. Besides," she continued, "it may give us ideas of what kind of people we're dealing with."

Lee nodded vigorously, and eventually, even Neji gave in. "Fine," he said, "but if we read anything that suggests it's classified, we stop. Get it?"

Both Tenten and Lee nodded, and all three crowded around each other and broke the first scroll's seal. They read the contents quietly for a few seconds, their faces shifting from plain curiosity to worry to disgust in a span of two minutes.

"No," was all Tenten could say after they finished. It was all she could do not to crumple the parchment. Lifting her eyes from the paper, she locked eyes with Neji, and saw that his expression was grave. "What do we do?"

Neji wasted no time answering her question. "We change our mission. We have to get back to Konoha as soon as possible to warn them."

Tenten and Lee nodded in agreement, and Tenten took charge of keeping the scrolls, sealing them away with her weapons, and only she could summon them out with a set of seals that only she knew.

It was then that the door to the temple came crashing down.

_|And all I need from you  
Could be the thing that  
Leaves us both up here forever|_

A drizzle had started by the time they managed to get out of the village. Hot on their heels were thirty armed shinobis, all of them ranging from A to S rank criminals. How they managed to get out could be considered a miracle—they were badly outnumbered, twelve against one when they started, but they managed to cut down the number to thirty in the span of five minutes.

Shaking off the nins that chased them proved to be more difficult than expected; the enemies knew the terrain better and had the upper hand. They tried to fend off the attacks, but it was obvious from the get-go that their opponents were stronger than them.

Team Gai might be one of the best teams in Konoha, but not even they were indestructible.

The rogue nins caught up with them as they attempted to cross the river that separated the boundary of the Fire Country with that of Water. Surrounded from all sides, the three friends had no choice but to fight. Normally it was something none of them minded; they were, after all, Maito Gai's former students, and thus were well versed in the art of hand-to-hand combat. But they had more pressing matters at hand; they had to deliver the scrolls to Konoha at all costs, to stop an impending war from happening.

"Give them back," one of the rogue nins said, holding a huge spear in his right hand. "And we promise to try and make your deaths as painless as possible." At first Tenten thought he was mocking them, _how __dare __he!,_ but she realized the shinobi was _not _smiling. He was dead serious, as if it was already a given fact that she and her friends will end up dead by the end of it all.

_None __of __us __are __going __to __die. __I __won't __allow __it._

"Not a chance," she heard herself say, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Lee nod vigorously, his stance indicating that he was prepared to fight to the death. Neji had his Byakugan on the ready, and Tenten had taken out her large scroll, ready to shower their opponents with a barrage of kunais, senbons and shurikens the second anyone made a move.

Suddenly, "I'll take care of them."

Tenten snapped her head to where Lee as standing. "What?"

"You two go ahead," Lee said, changing his stance to show that he was going to open several gates in the next minute or so. "Those scrolls need to reach Konoha, no matter what."

"Don't think for a minute that we're going to leave you here!" Tenten screeched.

"I'll catch up with you," the Konoha Green Beast answered. "Neji."

Tenten turned to her other friend just in time to see him nod. "No," she hissed, but Neji was not even looking at her. "This is not up for discussion," was all he said, before he took on a fighting stance and said, "Lee, we're getting out the first chance we get. Make sure to follow us after you're finished here."

Lee flashed his eternal rival one last thumbs up, and before Tenten could stop him, the green-spandex loving shinobi closed his eyes, crossed his arms across his chest, and suddenly, let an incredible amount of chakra dissipate from every pore of his body.

"Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain—Open!"

By the time Neji managed to half-drag Tenten away from the scene, the drizzle had turned into a steady downpour.

_|I'm gonna send a little rain your way  
I'm gonna send a little rain  
I'm gonna send a little rain|_

* * *

**Yes, yes, I'm back. What? Has it been four months already?**

**/coughs**

**I know, I know. The last scene sounded a little too much like the Sasuke-retrieval arc. But, well, I can make it work . . . I think?**

**Anyway, I'm estimating two more chapters after this. I said that last chapter, didn't I? But you see, I haven't yet decided on an ending then, but I have now! So, uhm, two chapters tops, and this thing is done. Cross your fingers with me.**

**Thank you so much for those who were patient enough to wait for updates. I hope this was worth the wait.**

**(And isn't Lee the coolest when he opens his gates? No?)**

**Until next!**

**(Oh, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you! Cookie rain for everyone!)**

**Update: 12/19/11**

**So, I added one short line after the last sentence, since someone (you did not put your name!) was kind enough to point out that the ending was a bit off. And lo and behold, when I went back to check it, it was indeed. I hope that last one helped. Well, maybe not really. But anyway. Thank you, anonymous reviewer who did not put his/her name, for that. Constructive criticism is always welcome :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: Kill the Messenger**

**Characters: Tenten, Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee**

**Genre: Angst/Friendship**

**Summary: Years of training taught her that sacrificing one's life for the village is noble, and something that a ninja should be prepared to do. Yet all the while Tsunade was speaking, all she could think of was, ****she and Lee won't make it back to Konoha alive****.**

**A/N: What? It's been two years already?**

* * *

**Kill the Messenger**

_\I'm gonna send a little rain to pour down on you__  
__Rain that makes the flowers bloom\_

Tears mingled with rainwater as Tenten hopped from one branch to the next, both cursing her boys and praying to all the gods she believed in that Lee was all right, that she and Neji had not, in fact, left one of their best friends to his death.

"Lee," she whispered, before she slipped, a testament to how distracted she was, how worried she was for the young Konoha green beast.

Warm arms caught her in mid-fall, but it did nothing to help ease the anxiety in her heart. Another second more and her feet were touching solid ground, soft and muddy because of the downpour, but steady, like the boy by her side.

"Focus, Tenten," came Neji's reprimand, half-strained, half-concerned. She knew the prodigy was just as worried as she was, though he was definitely better at keeping his emotions in check.

"Lee will be all right."

Tenten tried to believe in Neji'spromise, because Neji was Neji and he was a man of his words, the same way Lee was.

_None of us are going to die. I won't allow it._

"Right," she whispered, and then they were running again, as fast as their tired feet could carry them, in a race against time and the rouge shinobi who may or may not be right at their heels.

_\You know, rain to leave you all alone__  
__But keep eyelashes falling\_

She saw the tree that marked the boundary of the Konoha forest, a sign that she and Neji had made it, that they were finally in friendly territory, that they have delivered the scroll safely to the right hands, _almost_.

She jumped down the branch she was perched on and started her way inside the canopy of trees, wiping her eyes from the moisture provided by the rain that would not let up.

_Stupid Fate, _she thought as she gritted her teeth, recalling how she had challenged it on the day they had set out for this nightmarish assignment. _We _will _defy you. Just wait and see._

It took her a couple of seconds before she noticed that Neji had stopped a few feet behind.

"Neji?" she called, panicked that perhaps the rouge nins had caught up with them, that something bad had happened to Lee, just as she was taunting Fate a second time.

But the Hyuuga was alone, only looking at the horizon, byakugan activated.

"Neji?" Tenten repeated, louder this time.

"Tenten," Neji answered. "You go ahead and deliver the scroll to the Hokage and call for reinforcements. I'm going back to help Lee."

"Like hell!" the kunoichi hissed. "I'm not going to let you rush back into danger by yourself, idiot!"

"The scroll needs to reach the Hokage as soon as possible," the prodigy responded, gray eyes locking with hazelnut brown ones, as if telling her that there was nothing she could do to change his mind. "You understand this, right?"

Tenten bit her lower lip, knowing that Neji was right, that every second she wasted hesitating on her course of action put less distance between them and the enemies, and the possibility of Lee not getting out of the scuffle alive.

"Fine," she gave in, clenching her fists at her helplessness. "I expect you and Lee to be fine until I come back with backup, got it, Neji?"

The Hyuuga gave her one of his rare smiles, and all too sudden Tenten's heart ached at the longing to be with her boys, to be beside them as they fight an important battle for the sake of their village.

But she has her duty, the same way she knew Neji and Lee had theirs, and the welfare of Konoha came before all the lives of Team Gai combined.

"I'll come back for you, okay, Neji?" she repeated, not leaving until she saw Neji nod and then turn away from her, to run back into the fray of danger, back to Lee, back to their friend.

Only then did Tenten turn and raced to the village gates, wishing, hoping that she would make it in time.

_\Your wishes washed away\_

**End of Part Four**

* * *

**I have no other excuse for the lateness of this chapter, except that I got distracted with my other stories. So if there are readers left, please, please give me a holler just so I know if people actually still remember this story (I had to reread the old chapters to remember what the hell this story is about).**

**Next chapter will be the last one, I promise. Errors in the earlier chapters (spotted a couple already) and this one will be dealt with another time, when I find the patience for it. In the meantime, do leave a review or two, just because.**

**Yosh.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: Kill the Messenger**

**Characters: Tenten, Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee**

**Genre: Angst/Friendship**

**Summary: Years of training taught her that sacrificing one's life for the village is noble, and something that a ninja should be prepared to do. Yet all the while Tsunade was speaking, all she could think of was, ****she and Lee won't make it back to Konoha alive****.**

******A/N: Please visit my profile for some important announcements!**

* * *

**Kill the Messenger**

_|Kill the messenger__  
__I swear it's not me__  
__It's just someone I used to know|_

Tenten found herself running back toward the outskirts of the Konoha forest, half an hour after she had successfully delivered the scrolls to the Hokage, in order to catch up with her teammates, to provide support to them, as always. Behind her ran Kiba, Akamaru, Naruto and Hinata, and in front of them raced Gai, having just returned from his solo mission. Together they formed the reinforcements for Neji and Lee, five of the most reliable shinobi in the Village of the Leaf, the best trackers and powerhouses that Tenten could ever hope for.

_Just hang on a little bit more, you two, _she pleaded, hoping her silent message would reach her best friends' ears. _We're coming. I'm coming back for you both._

Biting her lip so fiercely, so much that she drew blood, she chanted Neji's promise in her head, giving her the strength to push through, despite the fatigue she was feeling from racing back to the village for hours nonstop because of their disaster of a mission.

_None of us are going to die. I won't allow it._

"I won't allow it either," she whispered, catching up with her sensei in a heartbeat.

_|And get to church__  
__'Cause you're a good girl__  
__And he never told you that|_

It was Akamaru who found the scent, about ten miles from the edge of the forest, and the reinforcements spent another ten minutes trying to locate the two shinobi, quietly following the clues that they hoped would point them in the right direction.

The trail got cold when they reached the nearest river, even when Kiba and Akamaru used their nose, and Hinata extended the range of her byakugan as far as her abilities would allow her. Even Naruto tried to be helpful, producing half a hundred kage bunshin to scour the immediate area for any sign of Neji or Lee.

Tenten tried to bite back a sob as she looked around helplessly, trying her best to be helpful even when she felt so useless, until Gai instructed her to remain calm, because surely Neji and Lee were all right, and it was his and Tenten's duty to believe in their strength and youthfulness.

But the evidence of a great battle was everywhere, and there was so much blood on the ground that Tenten didn't know if any (or all) of them belonged to her two friends.

Still, the kunoichi responded with a forced nod, before turning her back against her sensei so that he would not have to see how panicked her expression was. It was then that she spotted a small shrine, barely three square meters in area, and the sob she was trying to hold back finally escaped her lips, because there at the foot of the small icon lay a battered forehead protector with a Leaf symbol, smeared with dried blood.

_|And all I need from you__  
__Could be the thing that leaves us both up here forever|__  
_

"It's useless," Kiba announced after another half an hour, voicing out what no one else dared say since they got stumped in their search near the riverbed. "The trail's gone cold. We won't find them like this. We have to go back and form a team to do a proper search and retrieval."

Perhaps it was because he was the least close to the two missing shinobi that he could afford to be the voice of reason, to be the most objective one, and Tenten did not fault him for that. Yet, it took both Naruto and Hinata to stop her from throwing a kunai at the Inuzuka's direction, and even they were not able to prevent her from cursing Kiba out loud, yelling at him to try harder, _damn it, _couldn't he see that they needed to find Lee and Neji as quickly as they could?

"Tenten."

It was the tone of Gai's voice that broke her, and the dam that held her tears finally crumbled down, together with her shaky knees and legs, forcing her to fall over, only to be caught by her sensei, who was quietly mourning together with her.

_|I'm gonna send a little rain your way|__  
_

It was raining hard the day Konoha held the necrological service of Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji, fourteen days and one failed retrieval mission later. Almost everyone in the village attended the funeral: Neji was more than just the prodigy of the Hyuuga clan after all—he was a well-respected shinobi and a beloved relative of Hinata and her family—and Lee had won the hearts of everyone who knew him because of his determination and perseverance and, most of all, his kind heart.

Tenten was nowhere to be found since that morning, even when several of the Konoha 11 had spent hours trying to locate her whereabouts, in an effort to make her say a few words, a eulogy, about the two men who played an important role in her life.

(In truth, Shikamaru had an idea where she was, but, having gone through a similar experience before, he chose not to tell the others what he knew, in respect of Tenten's wish to grieve alone.)

It was Gai who spoke on behalf of his team, the mourning mentor who remained proud of his students, of the way they lived their lives, of the legacy they left behind.

_|I'm gonna send a little rain__  
__I'm gonna send a little rain__  
__I'm gonna send a little rain|_

"Well, here I am."

Three hours after the last of the mourners have left Neji and Lee's graves—empty tombstones because no bodies were retrieved to bury—Tenten found herself standing in front of the marks, twirling a kunai around her left index finger. The rest of her fingers, together with her palms and knuckles, were bloodied and bruised, having spent the better part of the afternoon in a secluded area in the forest, one of her little team's favorite secret training spots that only a choice few knew about.

"Everyone says you're both dead, you know," she said conversationally, tossing the kunai and catching it with her right hand. "They've all given up, even Gai-sensei."

She flipped the kunai so that she was gripping the blade instead of the handle, but she remained unmindful of the sting, or the blood that began to drip from the cut the sharp edge of the weapon had left her skin.

"But you guys aren't dead, right?" she grinned, even when her vision started to get blurry from salty tears. "Because Neji promised that none of us will die. And you, Hyuuga, always keep your promises." The first tear fell, in sync with another droplet of blood from her palm. "And Lee, seriously, you're too stubborn to die anyway."

And then the tears were flowing down, and she tried to wipe them away, staining her cheeks with metallic blood in the process.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now that you're gone, you idiots?" she sobbed, dropping the kunai on the cold ground, her whole body shaking with grief.

"Gone?"

A familiar voice spoke from behind, confusion mingling with his usual enthusiasm.

"Who's gone, youthful flower?"

"She's talking about us, fool."

A baritone monotone answered, exasperated.

"But where are we going? We just got here!"

Slowly, almost fearfully, Tenten turned around, only to find her two favorite boys standing a few feet away, both battered and worse for wear, but wearing tired, happy smiles on their faces.

"W-what?"

"Really, Tenten, what are you doing here out in the rain by yourself? And at such a late hour at that!" A dramatic pause. "Perhaps you are training? How youthful!"

"L-lee?"

"Don't be stupid. She's obviously crying over something ridiculous."

"N-neji?"

Both boys smiled—well, one beamed and the other smirked—and Tenten found herself taking a shaky step forward, only for her knees to give way beneath her.

And then they were there, catching her on either side, Neji's arm automatically wrapping around her waist, Lee gripping both her arms, so that she wouldn't be able to tumble down the ground even if she wanted to.

"You are hurt, spring blossom!" Lee then exclaimed, examining her hands. "Has anything bad happened while Neji and I were having an adventure that proved the springtime of our youth?"

"We need to have you patched up," Neji added, intentionally ignoring Lee's last statement, and gently helping Tenten stand straight, arm never letting go of her waist. "Come on. We need to check in the hospital as well."

Lee nodded enthusiastically in support. "Sakura-san made us promise to hurry back, as soon as we found where you are." And then he was marching beside her, flashing Tenten a good guy pose, as if he wasn't limping on his right foot, and his chest did not bear a huge gash and several scratches besides.

"B-but . . . how . . ."

Still at a loss for words, Tenten turned to her other teammate, brown eyes shining with tears and a hundred and one questions she could not voice out.

Neji offered her one of his rare smiles before looking straight ahead, paying no heed to his bleeding temple and broken arm.

"I always keep my promises."

_|I'm gonna send a little rain your way|_

Tenten spent the next hour listening to Lee recount their little escapade after she had gone ahead to deliver the scrolls and prevented a catastrophe from happening between three neighboring countries, the Land of Fire included, all the while gripping her knees tightly with her fists.

Neji had reached Lee just as the taijutsu master was almost out of chakra, and together they finished off what was left of the rouge nins, who were then replaced by reinforcements from the enemy camp. By then Neji had exhausted his chakra from using his techniques too many times, and Lee lay unconscious near his feet, a side effect from opening too many gates at too short a period of time.

The prodigy lost his forehead protector in the following scuffle, but succeeded in bringing down at least half of the new arrivals, before his strength finally ran out as well.

It took them three days to regain their strength—what with nourishment and rest their captors provided them—and plan their escape. They spent another week sluggishly making their way back to their home, until finally a patrolling team found them near the border of Konoha, and carried them back to the village, only a few minutes after the villagers had finished the service intended for their eternal repose.

"And when Naruto-kun informed us that they could not find you anywhere, Neji and I knew it was up to us to locate you ourselves!"

Tenten nodded solemnly, still unable to speak. Beside her sat Neji, ever silent, as Shizune finished setting his arm in a cast. With instructions to rest and then report to the Hokage the following day, the older woman left the group alone, silently nodding at Gai on her way out, as if telling him that both his charges were all right.

Maito Gai flashed Shizune a blinding grin and a thumb's up, but the latter had already left before the pink unicorn could make an appearance.

"Why did you not attend our funeral, Tenten?" Lee's voice was not accusing in the least, but merely curious.

The kunoichi finally lifted her head and locked eyes with Lee, before turning to Neji, as if silently borrowing some of his strength. She was rewarded with another rare smile, and suddenly Tenten knew her answer, why she made a subconscious decision not to appear before anyone ever since Tsunade had announced that Neji and Lee were to be honored by a hero's funeral for their sacrifice for the sake of the village.

Across them, Gai stood, hands on either hips, teeth pinging left and right, but when Tenten met his eyes, she read pride in them, and maybe a bit of an apology, for not having as much faith in his students as Tenten had.

Placing a steady hand on Neji's good hand, and then reaching her other hand to hold Lee's, Tenten smiled for the first time ever since she got back to the village, one week after their last failed attempt to locate Lee and Neji's whereabouts.

"I believed in your promise."

Outside, the rain continued pouring, even as a slip of a rainbow forced its way across the cloudy sky.

_|I'm gonna send a little rain__  
__I'm gonna send a little rain|_

* * *

**Not the original ending (where Lee died), not even the second one (where Lee **_**and **_**Neji died), but ever since Neji died in the manga I couldn't bear to write a story where he (or anyone from Team Gai) would have to die.**

**And voila, this is what happens. /flashes everyone with a Good Guy pose**

**Anyway, thank you to everyone who stuck with me until the bitter end, even when it took me years to finish this short, five-chaptered story, even if the ending was a little disconnected from how I wanted it to end before (thus the very angsty beginning and the not-so-angsty ending). **

**And now, I only owe you guys one more unfinished story (**_**Songs for a Dancer**_**) and the requests in **_**Rookie Roulette. **_

**Reviews for the last time, loves?**


End file.
